Polymer 4D printing: Advanced shape-change and beyond

4D printing is an exciting branch of additive manufacturing. It relies on established 3D printing techniques to fabricate objects in much the same way. However, structures which fall into the 4D printed category have the ability to change with time, hence the “extra dimension.” The common perception of 4D printed objects is that of macroscopic single-material structures limited to point-to-point shape change only, in response to either heat or water. However, in the area of polymer 4D printing, recent advancements challenge this understanding. A host of new polymeric materials have been designed which display a variety of wonderful effects brought about by unconventional stimuli, and advanced additive manufacturing techniques have been developed to accommodate them. As a result, the horizons of polymer 4D printing have been broadened beyond what was initially thought possible. In this review, we showcase the many studies which evolve the very definition of polymer 4D printing, and reveal emerging areas of research integral to its advancement.     

Hydrophobic Monomers Recognize Microenvironments in Hydrogel Microspheres during Free-Radical-Seeded Emulsion Polymerization

The three-dimensional structure of nanocomposite microgels was precisely determined by cryo-electron micrography. Several nanocomposite microgels that differ with respect to their nanocomposite structure, which were obtained from seeded emulsion polymerization in the presence of microgels, were used as model nanocomposite materials for cryo-electron micrography. The obtained three-dimensional segmentation images of these nanocomposite microgels provide important insights into the interactions between the hydrophobic monomers and the microgels, that is, hydrophobic styrene monomers recognize molecular-scale differences in polarity within the microgels during the emulsion polymerization. This result led to the formation of unprecedented multi-layered nanocomposite microgels, which promise substantial potential in colloidal applications.     

红外光谱法分析淀粉接枝聚丙烯酸酯共聚物的各级结构

研究玉米淀粉接枝聚丙烯酸酯共聚物的各级结构，主要探讨去除均聚物和玉米淀粉侧链的方法。发现以环己烷为溶剂，用索氏萃取法除去均聚物比用苯萃取法时间短、效果好；用HCl酸解法除去淀粉侧链比用HClO4氧化法简单实用。用红外光谱进一步验证了各级结构的官能团，证实了所合成的共聚物是玉米淀粉接枝聚丙烯酸酯共聚物。     

控温相变免疫分析测定雌酮

通过热引发聚合与氧化还原引发聚合，合成水凝胶，作为雌酮全抗原(E1— BSA)载体；以异硫氰基灾光素标记雌酮的单克隆抗体(McAb)作为示踪剂，建立了控温相变竞争免疫分析测定雌酮(EI)的方法并应用于分析血清样品。实验表明：以热引发聚合合成的水凝胶为载体的荧光免疫分析方法具有更高的灵敏度，它的线性范围为10-700μg/L，检出限为1μg／L(n=10，3倍空白)。经水凝胶性质的比较(包括LCST、非特异性吸附、抗原与抗体反应时间及固定化抗原活性)，证明了热引发聚合的水凝胶较氧化还原引发聚合的水凝胶更适合于作为免疫分析的载体。     

Hydrogel nanonetworks with functional core-shell structure

Nanohydrogel particles of poly(acrylonitrile-co-N-isopropylacrylamide (p(AN-c-NIPAM)) were synthesized using a microemulsion polymerization technique. Highly monodisperse nanohydrogel particles e.g. 50-150 nm, and various morphology such as core-shell and connected beads were obtained. It was shown that the shell thickness and the size of particles can be tuned by the monomer concentrations and their ratios as well as by the utilization of different crosslinkers. The hydrophobic core monomer, AN was converted to amidoxime groups to increase the hydrophilicity of the nanogels which provide more hydrophilic character and impart new functionality to the nanonetwork. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS) techniques were employed for the particle size characterizations. The amidoximation reaction was confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy.     

(甲基)丙烯酸酯的基团转移聚合

<正> 基团转移聚合方法自问世以来,由于其突出的优点,受到日益广泛的重视。本文来用丙二酸二乙酯的硅烯醇醚类引发剂3-乙氧基-3-三甲基硅氧基丙烯酸乙酯 (CH_3CH_2O_2CCH=C(OCH_2CH_3)OSiMe_3)和亲核型催化剂四乙基二氯化氢氨((CH_3CH_2)_4NHF_2)进行甲基丙烯酸甲酯(MMA)、丙烯酸丁酯(BA)、丙烯酸乙酯(EA)和丙烯酸甲酯(MA)的基因转移聚合。得到了近     

Non-isothermal kinetics of dehydration of equilibrium swollen poly(acrylic acid) hydrogel</o:p>

Summary Kinetics of dehydration of equilibrium swollen poly(acrylic acid) hydrogel was investigated using methods of non-isothermal thermal analysis. Methods of Kissinger, Coats-Redfern, Van Krevelen and Horowitz-Metzger were applied for determination the kinetics parameters: activation energy (E), pre-exponent (lnA) as well as the kinetics model ƒ(69) for the process of hydrogel dehydration under different heating rates. An existence of good agreement between determined values of kinetic parameters (Eand A), which were obtained applying different methods under the same heating rate. Functional relationship between changes of kinetic parameters of dehydration and changes of heating rate was established. An existence of compensation effect is accepted and explanation of compensation effect appearance during the hydrogel dehydration is suggested.     

SYNTHESIS, CROSSLINKING MECHANISM AND PROPERTIES OF A POLYACRYLATE/POLYURETHANE COMPOSITE COATING

A polyacrylate/polyurethane (P(A) / P(U)) composite coating has been prepared bycrosslinking an acetoacetylated polyacrylate with a vinylic group terminated polyurethaneat room temperature. A model Michael reaction between ethyl acetoacetate (EAA) andmethyl acrylate (MA) was designed to study the crosslinking mechanism. It was foundthat the two active hydrogen atoms in acetoacetyl group can both add to vinylic groupsand the yield of mono- and bis-adducts are much affected by the molar ratio of acetoacetylto vinylic groups. Higher crosslinking degree and better properties could be obtained withdecreasing the molar ratio of the two active groups from 1/1 to 0.6/1 in the compositecoatings.     

Swelling equilibria and dye adsorption studies of chemically crosslinked superabsorbent acrylamide/maleic acid hydrogels

Superswelling acrylamide (AAm)/maleic acid (MA) hydrogels were prepared by free radical polymerization in aqueous solution of AAm with MA as comonomer with some multifunctional crosslinkers such as trimethylolpropane triacrylate and 1,4-butanediol dimethacrylate. AAm/MA hydrogels were used in experiments on swelling and adsorption of a water-soluble monovalent cationic dye such as Basic Blue 17 (Toluidin Blue). As a result of dynamic swelling tests, the influence of relative content of MA on the swelling properties of the hydrogel systems was examined. AAm/MA hydrogels were swollen in the range 1660-6050% in water, while AAm hydrogels swelled in the range 780-1360%. Equilibrium water content of AAm/MA hydrogels were calculated in the range 0.8873-0.9837. Water intake of hydrogels followed a non-Fickian type diffusion. The uptake of the cationic dye, BB-17 to AAm/MA hydrogels is studied by batch adsorption technique at 25 °C. In the experiments of the adsorption equilibrium, S-type adsorption in Giles's classification system was found. The binding ratio of hydrogel/dye systems was gradually increased with the increase of MA content in the AAm/MA hydrogels.     

Interactions between temperature-sensitive hydrogel microspheres and granulocytes

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) has a low critical solution temperature (LCST) at 32°C in water and the hydrophilicity changes through the LCST. The microspheres whose surface was composed of PNIPAM exhibited phase transition behavior around 32°C. Therefore, the interactions between PNIPAM micropheres and granulocytes depended on the temperature. That is, the oxygen consumption and active oxygen production by cells in contact with PNIPAM-containing microspheres and adhesion of the microspheres to the cell surface were more enhanced above the LCST of PNIPAM than below it, whereas no significant temperature dependence of cell–microspheres interaction was observed in nonthermosensitive microsphere systems. It was suggested that the function of cells could be controlled with temperature using the temperature-sensitive microspheres.